Creepy 105

A fairly good issue of Creepy featuring a rare Esteban Maroto cover, his sole for Creepy.

First is "Shrivel" by Val Mayerik (art) and Bob Toomey (story). The story features a talking dragon that attacks a kingdom. Not too big a fan of this story, the worst of the issue in my opinion.

Second is "Night Life" by Auraleon (art) and Bob Toomey (story). This story surrounds a man who has eternal youth meeting a woman he had been with long ago, but is now middle aged. After remembering their meeting, she kills him by opening the blinds, revealing him to have been a vampire.

Third is "Dime Novel Hero!" by Russ Heath (art) and Nicola Cuti (story), a very good werewolf story taking place in the wild west. The story focuses primarily on the children of a farmer whose plagued by the werewolf, who works for the corrupt sheriff. In the end the lone ranger himself ends up showing up and saving the day.

Next is "Always Leave 'Em Laughing!" by Alex Nino (art) and Len Wein (story). All clowns are banned from Earth and forced to head to the moon if they want to remain a clown. There they fail to generate any laughs from the robot population and decide to bomb the surface of the moon to turn it into a clown face It is successful, but they are killed by Earth who misunderstand their intensions.

Fifth is "The Sign" by Pepe Moreno Casares (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). This story tells of the 'true' source of the star that the three wisemen were led to baby Jesus by, that it was a self-destructing rocket.

Next is "Visit to a Primitive Planet" by John Severin (art) and Bill Dubay (story). A pair of aliens come to Earth, but find the people in a small town they arrive in not moving at all. It ends up that they arrived at a test site for a bomb and are soon all killed because of it. A nice story with very little dialogue.

Last is "The Summoning" by Gonzalo Mayo (art) and Bruce Jones (story). This story takes place in a swamp where a man's baby is born as a deformed monster that wanders the swamp. It behaves, not killing anyone as long as a deer is sacrificed to it each month. It is summoned by a dog whistle. Naturally when a couple comes to the swamp and uses one to search for their lost dog, this causes a big problem.

Vampirella 64

The cover for this issue is by Enrich featuring who else, but Vampirella. This issue features a whopping seven stories, all about Vampi. All seven are written by Gerry Boudreau. Gonzalo Mayo provides artwork for all seven, with an uncredited Carmine Infantino contributing to the first two. The stories are titled "The Manipulators", "The Eradicators", "The Vindicators", "The Intruders", "The Stalkers", "The Ironoclasts" and "The Survivors".

This is a very complicated overall storyline spanning about 70 pages but I'll try to summarize it as best as I can. Vampi is recruited to once again help the FBI Agent Spectum, who first appeared in issue 53. Vampi is blackmailed into assisting him with delivering a briefcase to a man who just happens to be dead when she gets there. Soon after Adam is kidnapped. Multiple characters are introduced, multiple ones which get killed. Vampi figures out that there is a tape within the briefcase which is what is really of importance. Her blood serum is kidnapped by yet another villain however, the Englishman, who originally created the tape, which contains a line which he needs to state every year to retain his eternal life. The tape also creates information about Chaos. The Englishman screws up his timeframes and dies before Vampi can get him the tape however. Pendragon meanwhile is apparantly hypnotized then goes into a coma while there are attempts on Conrad's life. It ends up however that Pendragon was part of an act, working with another agent. The true villain soon becomes apparant, Spectrum, who is actually evil and seeks to bring Chaos demons to Earth. He does so when Vampi gives him the tape for 2 million dollars. The tape is damaged however, which results in the demons running amock, contrary to Spectrum's plans. Vampi hunts him down and he is finished off. The final demon, Moloch is defeated by Vampi in the final part of the story.

While very complicated and convoluted, this is a fairly good story compared to the usual Vampirella fare.

Eerie 62

The Unholy Creation is cover featured for this issue, by Sanjulian. Berni Wrightson provides a frontis with Cousin Eerie.

First is the first part of a new series featuring the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, appropriately titled, 'Apocalypse'. The first part is titled "The War". Art is by Jose Ortiz and story is by Budd Lewis. The weakest of the four stories in this series, this tale chronicles battles from the beginning of man while two chess players compare war to a game. While this is a weak first segment, overall this may be Eerie's greatest series ever, which would continue in the next three issues.

Second is "Cool Air" by Berni Wrightson, adapted from the HP Lovecraft story. This classic tale tells of a man who moves into a new boarding house where he befriends his neighbor who lives upstairs, Dr. Munoz. Munoz suffers from a disease which forces him to keep his apartment at a very cold temperature continuously. One day his machine that keeps the temperature cold breaks, and while the main character brings as much ice as he can Munoz rots away as it ends up he was dead the entire time and looked like a normal person because of the cold.

Third is "Crackermeyer's Churchyard", tha latest segment in 'The Spook' series. Art is by Leopold Sanchez and story is by Budd Lewis, who takes over the series from this point forward. The story introduces a new character, Crackermeyer, who takes center stage for this story over the Spook. The story surrounds an evil white man who tries to take away some land that was given to some black people. Crackermeyer and the Spook step in to ensure they get to keep the land.

Fourth is the first part of a new two part series, titled 'The Butcher'. This story's called "Forgive Us Our Tresspasses", with art by Richard Corben and story by Bill Dubay. This gangland melodrama features a crime lord who is killed on his deathbed by assassins hired by one of his sons, hoping to frame a rival crime family. During the murder the priest who was tending the crime lord is mutilated and apparantely killed. After hiding out the assassins are all killed... by the priest, who survived the attack and now swears revenge as 'The Butcher'. A very entertaining, but very short new series.

Fifth is the second and final part of 'The Unholy Creation' serial, "Circus of Pain" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Steve Skeates (story). This story focuses on Kuzzo, a freak in a circus who is friends with an elephant. The Unholy Creation arrives and does battle with the elephant, killing it. This angers Kuzzo but the two end up becoming frineds. A rather lame ending to a rather lame series.

Last is another segment in 'And the Mummies Walk', "Death be Proud" by Joaquin Blazquez (art) and Steve Skeates (story). Trogmore, in Arthur Lemming's body continues to live the excesses of life, and kills a young boy. Lemming in his Mummy body is finally able to reach him and knock him out, and is able to use a spell to return to his own body. Only mere moments later the father of the killed boy arrives and kills him. A sad end for Arthur Lemming as his part in this series finally comes to an end after 9 segments. Only one more segment in the series remains, to be concluded in the next issue.

Creepy 60

This issue features a cover by Sanjulian. The frontis for this issue is "Child of Hell" by Bill Dubay.
First story is "Slaughter House" by Adolfo Abellan (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). At 16 pages this is one of the longest stories in Creepy during this period. Unfortunately its not that great a story. A couple with a new baby move into a house that has been rumored to be haunted by a dwarf-like creature. They summon a good spirit and when the dwarf creature arrives it is able to save them and rid the house of the creature for good.

Next is "A Most Precious Secret" by Jose Gual (art) and Margopoulos (story). A man's wife discovers the horrible truth, that he's a vampire! To keep his secret, the man kills her and drinks her blood. The story brings us back in time, telling how they got married and how he was able to keep his secret from her. Back in the present the man receives a call from his lawyer telling him that his wife was seeing him to draft a will, because she has leukemia, cancer of the blood!

Third is cover story, "The Hero Within" by Richard Corben (art) and Steve Skeates (story). The story features an orphan with a wild imagination whose brought to a new foster home where his foster mother and sister treat him horribly, subjecting him to the wrath of their dangerous dog. The boy, locked in the basement finds a magic donut shaped rock on the ground and uses it to imagine himself in a prehistoric world, where he's a powerful monster warrior battling the dog, who has now changed into a Tyranosaurus Rex. While he succeeds in his battle with the beast, he loses the magic rock and reverts to the real world, where the wounded dog gets his revenge.

Fourth is "Monsieur Fortran's Houx" by Martin Salvador (art) and John Jacobson (story). An alien race plans on infiltrating Earth and has an agent in France approximately 200 years ago. The alien agent, Fortran, publishes a book revealing all the alien's plans, thinking that it is so crazy that everyone will think he's crazy and ignore the true danger. His plan initially works, but one drunk who does believe him ends up destroying his entire house, killing the both of them, when Fortran's superiors check in on him.

The issue concludes with "The Other Side of Hell" by Gonzalo Mayo (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story is Mayo's Warren debut. The story features a town drunk who has died and finds himself in hell. He desires to get away and suddenly finds himself in an Egyptian-esque realm where he kills the king and takes his Queen. He becomes power hungry and eventually kills her as well. But he soon realizes that he never left hell...

Vampirella 103

A really nice cover for this issue by Enrich featuring Vampirella swimming. Jose Gonzalez contributes yet another table of contents portrait of Vampirella.

First up is Vampirella's story, "The Last Prince!" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). Gonzalez returns to Vampirella to deliver his first new story since issue 82. He would handle the lead Vampirella story from now until the end of the magazine's life. This story features Vampirella dissappearing below the depth of the ocean where she meets Ariel, a prince of the sea who looks just like Adam. He lets Vampirella live with him and others who have lived beneath the sea. It ends up that the others are all diead however and he's been hiding his true form from her. Vampi and he head for the surface and while she makes it, he is unable to make it out of the sea and returns to where he came from. A short story at only 8 pages, but much higher quality than the epic stories we've had in Vampi over the last couple of years of this magazine.

Next is "The Mephisto List", the final story in the Cassandra St. Knight series. Art is by Auraleon and story is by Rich Margopoulos. A rather dissappointing finale to a dissappointing series. Cassandra is recruited to help a tibetan monk discover who stole 'The Mephisto List', which enables its user to summon demons. Both suspects are murdered, causing Cassandra to find the true culprit, a servant to the head monk. The series ends here with no apparant conclusion whatsoever.

Third is "The Final Solution!" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story), part of the 'Pantha' serial. Dr. Rictus attempts to prolong his life by extracting cells from Pantha, which will kill her. Pantha breaks free of her bonds, defeats Rictus's wife, his bigfoot son, and finally Rictus himself.

Fourth is "Terror in the Tomb!" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Nicola Cuti (story), part of 'The Fox' series. Sha-Ming and Will head with her uncle to Ch'In's Tomb where he finally obtains the wand he's been seeking; it ends up being a fake however and the real one is buried within a dead buried soldier. While this seems like an apparant resolution to the storyline, this series will continue for a while longer.

Fifth is "Pentesilia" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Timothy Moriarty (story). The story features the battle between the country of Thornodium and the Amazon country of Sapphae. Sapphae's queen, Pentesilia refuses to bow down and battles Gleyin, who had originally attempted to be an ambassador between the two countries. After a long battle he succeeds in killing her. Quite a dissappointing story from a story and art standpoint compared with Maroto's recent Vampirella work.

The issue wraps up with "Lover" with art by Artifact (Val Lakey, John Lakey and Laura Buscemi) and story by John Lakey. This story features a space shuttle manned all by women and their robot companion, nicknamed Lover. Lover runs amock, killing all the women aboard except the Captain, the only one that didn't mistreat him. Not a great story, but the artwork is quite good and Lover is quite a scary looking robot.

Eerie 24

This issue came out right around when Warren was starting to rebuild itself from the horrendous state it had fallen into in the late 1960's. Alas, that still means there's some reprinted material here. The cover is by Vic Prezio, featuring a giant ghost near a lighthouse.
This issue's frontis is "Eerie's Monster Gallery: Perchance to Dream" by Tom Sutton.

Up first is the cover story, "Head For the Lighthouse!" by Mike Royer (art) and Bill Parente (story). A rather disjointed story with a poor narrative at times, it features an old lighthouse keeper who enjoys telling stories of pirates to young kids. The city decides to replace the light in the lighthouse and the old man dies, but comes back as a corpse and turns things back to normal.

Second is a reprint from the very first issue of Creepy, "Pursuit of the Vampire" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). The story features a group of townspeople being joined by a stranger who tells them two murder victims are actually going to turn into vampires since a vampire was their killer. He leads them to a house where they are and kill them. The town leader ends up being the vampire that killed them, but the stranger, who is a werewolf kills him to eliminate competition for victims.

Third is "The Immortality Seeker" by Tom Sutton (art) and James Haggenmiller (story). A man overhears another man talking of immortality, so he follows him and kills him. Taking a map from the man, he heads to a planet and kills a monster, and finally finds a computer that will give him immortality. Only the computer ends up freezing him!

The following story is "Checkmate" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Ron Parker (story). A man meets an old friend at his his house, who possesses a chess set made up of demonic pieces. They play and the friend eventually wins. He tells the man that he needs to play someone every night to keep the chess set and if someone beats him they get it. But if he wins, he gets to take their soul, which is exactly what happens to our protagonist.

Fifth is "Scavenger Hunt", with art by Jerry Grandenetti and story by Don Glut. A short fat guy who loves the macabre keeps ruining parties, so the guests come up with a scavenger hunt of part of various monsters to keep him busy and out of their hair. He is able to find all the items however and returns to the party with them... along with the monsters they belong to!

Sixth story is another reprint, "Dracula's Guest" from Eerie 16. The art is by Frank Bolle and the story is by E. Nelson Bridwell. This story is originally from a Christopher Lee book of comic stories. It is an adaption of the events that occur in the novel Dracula prior to the start of the well known story in Translvania.

Last is "Wrong Tennant" by Reed Crandall and Bill Parente. A pair of ghost hunters arrive to help an old woman eliminate a ghost from her house. They initially have difficulty and one of them is killed, but the ghost is able to be stopped using electricity. Only it ends up the ghost was actually a victim of the old woman, who is a vampire and kills the last remaining ghost hunter. This story would be rewritten and published in color in Creepy 74 in 1975.

Creepy 39

A whopping four artists' Warren debuts highlight this issue of Creepy. The art is by Basil Gogos. The frontis is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore: The Evil Eye!" by Clif Jackson (art) and Richard Grose (story).

First story is "Where Satan Dwells..." by Sal Trapani (art) and Al Hewetson (story). This story is a rarity, it actually stars Uncle Creepy himself! Uncle Creepy, getting bored of just telling stories seeks to find an adventure of his own. He comes across a bookstore where the bookkeeper gives him a book with the same title as this story. He reads the book and suddenly finds himself in a position where he has to save the bookkepper and his family from the evil spirit Groton. It ends up being a dream, and the bookkeeper ends up being Cousin Eerie!

Second is "C.O.D. - Collect on Death!" by Dave Cockrum (art, his debut) and Dave Wood (story). A man makes a deal with the devil to spurn death, but in exchange he must kill someone each day. If he misses even a single day, he will die himself. This eventually forces him to kill his own fiance when he loses track of time due to her. Her brother leads him to a desert to kill him. He does so, but is told that he's so far away from society there's no way he'll be able to kill someone else within a day, which results in his ultimate demise.

Third is "The Water World", featuring the debut of artist Pablo Marcos. The story is written by Buddy Saunders. A trio of astronauts crash on a water filled world and drift aimlessley on a raft over very clear water. Soon two are dead and the last remaining one fishes using the remains of one of the others. This catches a fish, but one so huge that it ends up eating him!

"Death by the Wizard" with art and story by Pat Boyette is next. Not as good a story as usual from the usually excellent Boyette. It features the Wizard Merlin who is facing his own demise due to a woman he was with. He is turned into a tree by her.

Fifth is "Harvest of Horror!" by Frank Brunner (art) and Phil Seuling (story). This story interestingly enough features three different endings, surrounding a man who is on the run, finding a scarecrow in a field. A rather interesting concept, surprised that Warren didn't use it more often.

Sixth is "The Dragon Prow!" with Richard Bassford (art, his debut) and Steve Skeates (story). The story features a serf who wishes for freedom so he tries to steal a horse and escape, but he is captured and put aboard a boat as a slave. A sea storm causes the ship to crash and he thinks he finally has his freedom only to realize that he died in the crash.

Last is the debut of Gary Kaufman, in "Mad Jack's Girl". The Jack of the title is a gang leader who does a lot of bad deeds. His girlfriend tries to steer him right but can't do it. Eventually she gathers up corpses of his victims then kills him and sets him up in a dinner setting with them.

1984 5

Up first for this issue is "The Greatest Hero of Time and Space!" by Jose Ortiz doing the story and Bill Dubay (as Strontium Whitehead) and Jim Stenstrum (as Alabaster Redzone) doing the story. Standard Dubay sex fantasy story to open up the issue. A young boy's father dies, so he goes to live with his uncle, an old man who lives with about a half a dozen beautiful naked women. He tells the nephew of his various adventures through time with them as they rescue humanity and have other various adventures. It ends up that the women are all actually robots, but that doesn't stop the boy from having an orgy with them all at the end of the story.

Second is part three in the Idi Amen storyline, "Idi and the Ratment of Hunger Hollow" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Bill Dubay (story). Dogmeat and Idi head to an area where there is a bunch of rats, in an attempt to find a rocket they can get to use to the US. They are confronted by many real rats and the ratmen, but are able to get to the rocket and take off.

"Timothy Sternback and the Multi-Colored Sunrise" is about a man who experiments with sex with numerous different women. He finds himself transported to another dimension where he's supposed to marry the King's daughter and produce a child to be heir. He does so, but desires to return to Earth so wishes himself back there when the King give him a wish. In actuality, there was no wish, and they had sent him back by their own choice anyway.

"I Wonder Who's Squeezing Her Now? follows, with art by Wally Wood & Ernie Colon and story by Nicola Cuti. Story surrounds a man whose life is falling apart around him. His wife is having an affair, so he leaves her and has an affair with a woman from his office, which becomes public, getting him fired from his job. His lover ends up in the hospital and he gets beat up by his wife's lover. He decides to kill them, but upon seeing the lover beat her up for having an affair with yet someone else, our hero finds a little better and decides to call it off.

"Luke the Nuke Brings It In!" by Rudy Nebres (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story). A rather boring story about the Luke of the title piloting a shuttle, smuggling illegal aliens, who makes his way through various enemies traps, etc...

The latest segment of "Mutant World" by the team of Rich Corben (art) and Jan Strnad (story) features Dimento in yet another battle with other mutants over food. He also battles with a wolf-like crerature. Meanwhile a soldier finds Dimento's friend, the woman, and brings her to a nearby compound. Dimento follows but can't get in.

"The Box" by Mike Nassar & Alfredo Alcala (art) and Len Wein (story) is a rather interesting story about a tower which contains a civilization in it serving an entity known as the box. At the end it ends up being a TV show which is cancelled. Not an overly complicated story, but a fairly good one.

Next is "Killman One" by Herb Arnold (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story, as Alabaster Redzone). The story is about an alien woman who hates her husband, a star 'Killman', who fights various competitors in one on one battles to the death. She decides to take him on in one such competition and ends up killing him.

We wrap up with another installment of Rex Havoc, entitled "The Spud from another world! or Who Grows There?". Art is by Abel Laxamana and story is by Jim Stenstrum. This story is a parody of the movie "The Thing From Another World", and the book it was based on, "The Thing From Another World". It features our heroes in the arctic where an alien being is found frozen. It ends up getting thawed and is an alien potato monster that our heroes try to take out by frying him on a frying pan. A sympathetic scientist screws things up, but Rex is able to set the alien on fire in his ship and take him out.

Eerie 61

This issue of Eerie kicks off with a cover by Ken Kelly, featuring Coffin, the first of three covers featuring this character. The inside front cover features an intro by Cousin Eerie by Berni Wrightson.

Up first is "Death Wish!" the first part of the series Coffin by Jose Ortiz (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This series had been advertised for quite a long time and was delayed over and over again until it finally premiered here. Coffin is a man whose stage coach in the desert is attacked by Indians, resulting in harm to the many aboard. Coffin heads after the Indian tribe and kills them, but the last three capture him and stake him to the ground, where ants ravage his body. He wakes up much later finding his decayed body and seeks revenge on the Indians, killing two of them. The third tells him they had nothing to do with the attack and curses him to live forever in his mutilated form. Coffin is brought to a hospital and while leaving discovers the true culprits, three white men who posed as Indians. Coffin enacts his revenge on them. A nice start to a really good series, although it'd be a little while before the next segment.

Next is "Killer Hawk" by Wally Wood (art) and Bill Dubay (story). While no official title appears, this is another 'Exterminator' story, this time stand alone in nature. Killer Hawk is a military officer who rises through the ranks and becomes bodyguard for the President of Mars. In actuality, Hawk is an exterminator robot whose mission is to kill the President and take him place. He does exactly that, but is deemed too powerful and is disposed of by his leaders soon afterwards.

Third is "Cotton Boy & Captain Blood" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). The Cotton Boy of the title is an old slave who brings back to life Captain Blood, the pirate who originally brought him to America. Using Blood's corpse he enacts revenge on various merchants, including one that has already died by giving him life, resulting in him being trapped in a coffin. Cotton Boy has additional plans, but Captain Blood kills him and heads back into the sea.

Fourth is the return of the Mummy and Werewolf to Eerie, "A Battle of Bandaged Beasts". The two series have been combined into a single one titled "The Mummies Walk". Neither Jaime Brocal nor Martin Salvador are anywhere to be seen, with Joaquin Blazquez now handling the art. The writing continues to be done by Steve Skeates. Arthur Lemming and Jerome Curry in their mummy forms meet and battle it out. Meanwhile the dwarf who stole Lemming's body robs a carriage and takes captive a beautiful woman whom he had met while a dwarf. She incidently has the amulet which is the key to both mummy's regaining their original bodies. She knocks him out however and escapes. Blazquez's art here just doesn't fit that well, particularly his poorly done action scenes and this is a sore dissappointment after Brocal's excellent work a number of issues back.

The issue wraps up with the conclusion of the Dr. Archaeus saga, with three different titles, "Foreplay", "Penetration" and "The Climax". As always art is by Isidro Mones and story is by Gerry Boudreau. Jamaica Jansen puts out a bounty for Archaeus's head. Archaeus, who manages to kill the sixth juror, finds himself on the run and trapped by an expert assassin. Rather than let the assassin win, Archaeus chooses to hang himself, and dies this time for real. So ends a terrific serial.

Creepy 125

A fairly good Creepy issue from 1981. The cover is by Ken Kelly. While it has a Christmas themed color, only one story within has a Christmas theme. Rudy Nebres provides a one page introduction from Uncle Creepy.

Up first is "Once Upon a Christmas Eve" by Martin Salvador (art) and Bill Dubay (story, credited as Will Richardson). The story features a pair of bums on Christmas who encounter demons trying to trap them in bottles of alcohol. Luckily they are able to escape. It appears to be a dream, but is enough to get them to try and turn their life around.

Next is "His Own Private Demons!" by Anton Caravana (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). Story features a grown man recalling his childhood where a demon that was part of him caused him to do bad things. As an adult, the bad deeds continue.

Third is "Top Dog!" by Alex Nino (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). The story features a mob boss threatened by new enemies. He recruits a group of leprechauns to help them, by promising them gold. They defeat his enemy, but with no actual gold he is forced to let them be in charge.

Next is "Jacque Couteau's Circus of the Bizarre" by Alex Toth & Carmine Infantino (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). A fairly good short story at only 5 pages features a freak show where regular humans are the freaks and the audience are bizarre looking mutants. Toth & Infantino provide an interesting art job in this one time only team up.

"The Tempered Sword" is next, by Alfredo Alcala (art) and Manuel Auad (story). The issue's weakest effort, it features a sword that is able to absorb the emotion of the person that uses it. A slave who finds the sword hears the story of its origin from an old man.

"Living Death Camp!" by Auraleon (art) and Roger McKenzie (story) follows, It takes place in Nazi Germany where a number of jews are brought to a concentration camp. Due to the help of a vampire however, they are able to turn on their captors.

Last is "Knight Errant" by Mike Saenz (art) and Roy Kinnard (story). The story features a knight battling a crab like creature and a dragon, inspired by visions of his beautiful lover. However a vision distracts him during the battle with the Dragon and he is defeated. It is revealed that everything is actually a simulation; the knight is actually a small mutated creature using a robot body who passes away due to his wounds. Very good art in one of Saenz's few Warren appearances.

Vampirella 102

This issue features a cover by Enrich, a redo of his cover for issue 60. Joze Gonzalez contributes another table of contents with Vampirella.

First is Vampirella in "Return of the Blood-Red Queen" by Gonzalo Mayo (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). The sister of the original Blood Red Queen of Hearts (who first appeared in issue 49) collects hearts and seeks revenge on Vampirella for her sister's death. Vampirella also faces trouble when her blood substitute ends up not working. By the end Vampi ends up on top and the Blood Red Queen is killed. A rather lame redo of a storyline which had already been done before in much better fashion with the original Queen. Mayo's art also seems a little down compared to usual at times in this story.

Second is Pantha in "A Night Full of Zombies Part Five" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). Pantha escapes from being attacked by alligators. Adam meanwhile is held captive by Munroe and Baron Samedi, but when Pantha arrives they defeat the both of them. They return to see Dr. Rictus, only to be attacked by his son, a Bigfoot! It seems that Samedi plans on stealing Pantha's body...

Third is Cassandra St. Knight in "Kill Quake!" by Auraleon (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). Cassandra, trying to prevent a quake that will hit New York is attacked by a druggie who had a vision of Cassandra killing him, which was actually a vision of his past life. Luckily she is able to save herself.

Fourth is The Fox, "Night of the Devildogs!" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). Sha-Ming and Raven are captured by men from the 'Boxer Revolution' who hold them captive until Sha-Ming summons Kuei demons to destroy their captors. The demons warn her to not let her uncle get the wand of Ch'in Shin Huang. They return to the boat where they plan on stopping him, but are spied upon as they head to the mainland where a festival is taking place. Thats where this segment ends.

Fifth is "Perseus" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Tim Moriarty (story). The story surrounds Perseus who seeks to rescue his mother from King Craccus. To do so, he finds Medusa and beheads her, then uses her face to turn his enemies to stone, including Gorgons and a Serpent beast. He rushes into Craccus's castle and unleashes Medusa's head once again, but this turns both Craccus and his mother to stone. Perseus is cursed with the knowledge that he killed his mother. Amazing artwork by Maroto on Medusa in this story.

Last is "Alicia" by Alphonso Font (art) and Carl Wessler (story). In France during late World War II a thief breaks into a house and finds a picture of the owner, who looks just like him! His wife arrives and mistakes him for her husband, but so does a group of zombie soldiers angry at him for betraying them. Their pursuit results in his death. After its revealed that the husband was around the whole time, hiding from them and helped tremendously by this recent turn of events. This is Font's only Warren appearance. Wessler stopped writing for Warren long before this issue making one wonder if this was a story that was originally intended to run years earlier.

Eerie 34

This issue of Eerie features a cover by Boris Vallejo with a warrior battling a harpy. The frontis for this issue is "Eerie's Monster Gallery: The Man Who Played God" by Tom Sutton.

First up is "Parting is Such Sweet Horror" by Tom Sutton (story & art). This story features a man whose twin brother is a hideous mutated monster. The man tells his lover that he's killed his brother but is obsessed about there being a link between them. She brings him to a mansion to convince him that no such link exists, but the monster brother ends up being there, and absorbs her, then kills his brother.

Second is "Eye of Cyclops!" with art by Jaime Brocal, in his Warren debut, and story by Buddy Saunders. The story features soldiers battling a giant cyclops, who has a small creature always accompanying him on his shoulders. The cyclops captures many of the men and starts eating them. One of the men attacks the cyclops, blinding him, but the cyclops still manages to kill him as he was always blind, and used the creature on his shoulder to see.

Third is "He Who Laughs Last... Is Grotesque!" by Mike Royer (art) and Al Hewetson (story). This story features a rich Scottish Baron who is killed by the townspeople. He swears revenge, but he is refused the ability to do that in hell, which just ends up being his personal hell to him.

Fourth is "Food for Thought" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Steve Skeates (story). The story features an astronaut who kills his fellow astronauts and eats them when they run out of food. He arrives on an alien planet, where the plants eat him! A pretty good art job by Williamsune in his final Warren appearance.

Fifth is the cover story, "Vow of the Wizard" by Ernie Colon & Frank McLaughlin (art) and Ernie Colon (story). A wizard tells a warrior that he'll take his woman from him someday. The warrior battles a harpy, but it ends up that it was his lover, transformed by the wizard!

Sixth is "The Sound of Wings" by Carlos Garzon (art) and F. Paul Wilson (story). The story features a pair of men in the desert who come across a journal. The journal tells of a man who summoned a demon to kill the man who was going out with his daughter, whom he felt unworthy of her. He is killed, but upon finding out that his daughter needs to be sacrificed, he runs away to the desert, where he dies. They don't believe the story, but the ending shows the giant footprint of the bird demon.

Seventh and final story is "Lair of the Horned Man" by Alan Weiss (story & art). The story features a native american chief fighting a horned beast to save a woman. It ends up that the beast was created by the local medicine man, who changes the woman, his daughter into a snake to fight him. She ends up biting her father, killing him.

Creepy 8

An early issue of Creepy, featuring Gray Morrow's first cover for Warren's horror magazines. The frontis for this issue, "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" is by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story).

Up first is "The Coffin of Dracula" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A man comes into possession of Dracula's coffin and sits in it, becoming Dracula himself. He invites people to his mansion then steals one of the women and runs away with her. The Van Helsings start looking for him and find a monster in a cave. This story would be concluded in the next issue.

Next is "Death Plane" by George Evans (art) and Larry Ivie (story). Evans was a terrific artist at EC but unfortunately did very few Warren stories, just this and a few for Blazing Combat. This story features a mysterious plane that is taking out both American and German planes during the war. One of the American officers is killed and realizes that the ghost of each person killed appears in the plane until they can kill someone else.

Another EC great is next, Johnny Craig, using the pseudonym 'Jay Taycee' in his Warren debut, "The Mountain". This story, like the previous one, is done in pencil only. A woman wandering in the winter wilderness comes across a cabin on a mountain and meets a man inside who asks her to bring the town mayor to him so he can take over his mind. She does so and the young man reveals his true self, the Devil, who is able to wreak havoc on the world now that she has brought him a body he can use to escape the cabin in which he has been trapped.

Fourth is "The Invitation" with art by Manny Stallman (in yet another Warren debut in this issue) and story by Russ Jones, Larry Englehart and Maurice Whitman. A Baron gets in a car accident and comes across a mansion where vampires live. He convinces them to let him live as long as he brings them victims. He does, but eventually they turn him into a vampire as well. Whitman would very lamely repeat this exact same story in issue 17 in the story "A Night Lodging".

"Adam Link's Mate", one of the many Adam Link stories by Warren appears next, with art by Joe Orlando and story by Otto Binder. In this story, a scientist convinces Adam to create a female robot, Eve, which he does. The scientist then manages to manipulate their minds using a helmet he puts on them and gets them to rob banks for him. Adam is freed of the helmet's influence when a friend stops by, but he is attacked by Eve and thrown over a cliff to his apparant demise.

"A Vested Interest" is next, by George Tuska (art, his sole Warren appearance) and Ron Parker (story). A man sees a werewolf and confides in a stranger at a bar about it. He goes with the stranger to find the werewolf and brings a camera with him, and the stranger ends up being the werewolf. He reveals a gun with silver bullets in the camera, but the werewolf, whose wearing a bullet proof vest gets the better of him.

Last is "Fitting Punishment" by Eugene Colan (art, in his Creepy debut) and Goodwin (story). It features a grave digger who gets caught by the police in the act. He hides in a mausoleum and steals a dead man's clothes to escape, but the clothes shrink while he's wearing them, killing him.

1984 4

Another big issue of 1984. The cover is by Patrick Woodroffe.

First up is "The Last War... ...of the Worlds!" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This is a continuation of HG Wells 'War of the Worlds' where the martians come back to Earth and attack again. Thanks to using technology from the martians, the Earthlings are able to fight them off. A long, drawn out story that just is not that interesting.

Second is "Idi and Me" a continuation of the serial Idi Amin. Dogmeat and Idi face a number of mutants who look like rotting corpses who try to eat them. Idi runs away while Dogmeat is captured. Idi eventually returns, thinking Dogmeat is the most likely person to help her become a man again, but he is able to save himself by convincing the mutants that he wouldn't taste good. Once again terrific art by Maroto and idiotic dialogue, particularly from Idi who can barely speak english.

Third is "Mondo Megillah" by Alex Nino (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story, credited as Alabaster Redzone). Possibly the most infamous of all of 1984's stories, this story has been rumored as a major factor for the bankruptcy of Warren Publishing. Apparently what happened was that editor Bill Dubay was going to allow his writers, including Gerry Boudreau, to adapt some sci-fi stories for 1984 prior to it becoming the sex-filled mag it became. Boudreau wanted to do Harlan Ellison's "A Boy and His Dog" and wrote the story with Dubay's okay before permission was granted. Ellison refused to provide permission, but Bill Dubay decided to have the story drawn anyway because he was fearful of running out of work for Alex Nino to do. He then asked Stenstrum to rewrite the story and it was published as Mondo Magillah. Even with the rewrite, the story was obvious plagirism and Ellison sued, which he eventually won shortly before Warren went out of business. Anyway, the story takes place in a post apocalyptic world where the Earth has been rendered a wasteland and all men have mutated into bizarre monsters. The story focuses on one such monster, Lucius, and his ex-wife Kitten, who are among the first to return to the Earth in order to make money for themselves. While there, Kitten comes across a normal looking man, whom she has sex with (what did you expect for this magazine?). He worships a God called Magillah, and she eventually discovers an underground society that worships him and plans to sacrifice her to him as they give him a woman to have sex with once a year. Kitten is able to escape and make it back to the surface where she reunites with Lucius. The man leaves her to return to his underground society, so she has sex with Lucius instead.

Fourth is the latest chapter in "Mutant World" by Richard Corben (art) and Jan Strnad (story). Dimento is beat up by the mutants who had captured the lady he met and try to eat him. Demento escapes, and mad at the lady for tricking him, doesn't help her. The mutants beat her up and Demento eventually comes back to rescue her.

Fifth is "The Stunning Downfall of Muhammad Reptillicus!", which features Sally Starslammer from last issue's Omar Barsidian tale. Art is once again by Jim Janes and Rudy Nebres and story is by Jim Janes and Bill Dubay. It features a boxing match between Muhammad and another mutant which he easily defeats. Sally gets angry and jumps in the ring and beats up Muhammad. Muhammad's agent tries to recruit her but she refuses, and he end up having a parasite controlling his body. She leaves, with the money meant for Muhammad.

Sixth is "Ogre", another story from Corben and Strnad. This issue is done mostly through photographs of clay models. It features an ogre who is in love with the lover of the prince, who is cheating on the queen. The ogre reveals this to the queen, who chops off the prince's head and turns the ogre into a human. He wants to head off with the prince's lover, but she turns her into an ogre to replace him.

Next is "Lullaby" by Jose Gonzales (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story, credited as Alabaster Redzone). This story, which probably features Gonzalez's best ever art for Warren, features an aristocratic woman and her lover, who has defected from the military but with her advice decides to return. Pretty much the whole story is the two of them naked, talking to each other. At the end of the story it is revealed she is his mother.

Next is "Boy's Camp!" by Herb Arnold (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story, credited as Alabaster Redzone). Aliens have taken over humanity and have a couple of people head to a planet where they have a camp for kids. The only problem is that the pressure of arriving on the planet on a ship will kill the person, so they have to revive them as corpses so they can make repairs. They are unable to leave the planet before decomposing however.

Last is "Rex Havoc" by Abel Laxamana (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story). It features a future where monsters try to get the same rights as humans. Rex is the leader of a group, "Asskickers of the Fantastic" (the monsters call themselves Fantastics) who seek to destroy all monsters. This story features him fighting a well known vampire. This would kick off a series for the next few issues.

Eerie 2

This is the first real issue of Eerie. It was intended to be the first issue, but when Warren realized that another company was attempting to use the name 'Eerie' prior to them, they rushed out a single 'ashcan' edition issue of Eerie containing three stories meant for Creepy to secure the copyright. A number of months later, the first real issue, this issue, came out. The cover is by Frank Frazetta featuring a wizard summoning monsters. Cousin Eerie and Uncle Creepy, drawn by Jack Davis are included as the frontis.

First is "Footsteps of Frankenstein" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A doctor heads to a town to visit an old friend, who the entire town hates. The friend is working on creating his own Frankenstein-like monster, which he plans to put his own brain into since he is so old. The doctor goes ahead and does it, and the friend plans to go on a rampage against the town. He is struck by lightning however, and turns into dust.

Second is "One for De-Money" by Angelo Torres (art) and E. Nelson Bridwell (story). A man discovers his rich old uncle summoning a demon, who is trapped in a pentagram drawn on the ground in chalk. The uncle demands the demon give him money, which he does. The nephew, upset at the way his uncle has treated him, kills him, then summons the demon so he can get even more money. However, having smudged off the chalk line when killing the uncle, the demon quickly kills him.

Third is "Eye of the Beholder" by Johnny Craig (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A man becomes obsessed with bringing his dead wife back to life and finds a man who is able to do it. His wife returns exactly as she had before, but strange things start happening. The dog is frightened of her and dies of fright soon after. A man paid to deliver flowers to her runs off in terror. The man soon discovers the truth when he looks into a mirror, that she returned as a rotting corpse and she only appears normal when he looks at her.

Fourth is "Flame Fiend" by Gray Morrow (art) and Otto Binder (story). A man kills his business partner in a car explosion, but is visited by his ghost, in the guise of a humanoid flame monster soon after, who says he'll die by fire. The man avoids fire as much as he can, eventually heading to the woods during the winter, where he jumps into an ice-filled lake, causing him to die of a fever.

Fifth is "To Pay the Piper" by Eugene Colan (art, his Warren debut) and Larry Ivie (story). The story takes place in a town plagued by vampires. A piper offers to rid the town of the vampires by playing a song on his pipe in exchange for money. He does so and rids the town of vampires, but the town refuses to pay, so using his pipe he lures the children away, as in the classic Pied Piper story. Men wait for him in the woods however and kill him with arrows. They soon find however that he lured the children into wolfsbane, turning them all into werewolves!

Sixth is "Vision of Evil" by Alex Toth (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). The story features a rich man who becomes obsessed with the art of a madman living in an asylum. He heads to the asylum to see the artist, who is a usually comatose man except when he's painting. It soon becomes clear however that the monsters in his paintings are real, and they come for the rich man after he is featured in one of the madman's paintings.

Final story is "Ahead of the Game". The art is by Joe Orlando and Jerry Grandenetti (credited only to Orlando) and the story is by Archie Goodwin. It features a hunter who kills a white gorilla whose headless ghost continues to haunt him afterwards. Eventually he shows up for real and the hunter's head is cut off and put on a plaque!

Creepy 24

This issue's cover is by Gutenberg Monteiro. Our frontis is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" by Gray Morrow (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), reprinted from Creepy 13.

Up first is "Black Magic" by Steve Ditko (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), originally from Eerie 5. A sorceror summons a woman from the dead, despite the warnings of his old master. When she ends up being crazy, he casts a spell that makes her dead again, only to suffer the same fate himself, since he was raised from the dead by his master!

Next is "You Do Something to Me" by Tom Sutton (art) and Bill Parente (story). My personal favorite of the new stories in this issue, it tells of a man who finds out that his wife is using black magic. He thinks she is trying to kill him, so he throws the amulet that she has (which contains a picture of him inside) into the fire, thinking that it will stop the magic. It does, but it ends up that the magic was keeping him alive, as he had been actually killed in a car accident years before! As a result he immediately rots into nothing.

Next up is "The Day After Doomsday" by Dan Adkins (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Eerie 8. A man finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world, and confronts multiple mutated beasts which he fights off. Eventually he finds normal humans whom he stays with, only to find that they are cannibals, who eat him! Very nice art by Adkins here.

Fourth is "Room For a Guest" by Reed Crandall (art) and Bill Parente (story). This was Crandall's first new story for Warren since their collapse in late 1967. A young man comes to see a man at a castle who is collecting tons of macabre books. It eventually ends up that he is Satan himself!

Another reprint from Eerie 8 is next, "Typecast!" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). An actor gets upset with being typecast into the role of a killer or monster in many horror movies. Eventually he goes crazy and kills his agent. Years later he is let out of the looney bin accidently and returns to his crazy ways.

Last is "A Silver Dread Among the Gold" by Tony Williamsune (art) and the team of Bill Parente & George Hagenauer (story). The story tells of a viking who seeks eternal life by heading out into the mountains, but comes back nearly frozen and in a bad state. Many years later climbers come across his body, surrounded by silver. They remove it, only for him to come to life as a werewolf!

Vampirella 101

Our latest issue of Vampirella is issue 101. The cover for this issue is by Noly Panaligan. It was originally intended for issue 100, but ended up being bumped to this issue (whose original cover was also bumped to another issue). Jose Gonzalez contributes yet another portrait of Vampirella for the table of contents page.

Vampirella's story for this issue is "Attack of the Star Beast" by Gonzalo Mayo (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). An octopus like alien arrives on Earth and plans to breed so it can cause more havok. After a cult is attacked by the creature they start gathering a number of sacrifices for it, which all end up being naked college students. Vampi arrives on the scene and is luckily able to kill the creature by crashing a car into it. A rather poor story which is helped out by very good art by Mayo. Aside from perhaps Esteban Maroto, Mayo could draw naked women as good as anyone at Warren, and this story is filled with perfectly proportioned, large breasted naked women, if you like that kind of thing. The monster design is also quite intriguing.

Next is Pantha's story, "A Night Full of Zombies Part Four" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). Pantha is able to remember her childhood with the help of Dr. Rictus. Adam meanwhile is taken captive by the evil mobster Monroe, who gives him to his voodoo expert Baron Samedi. Pantha heads there to save him and is also captured, and thrown to a bunch of crocodiles.

Cassandra St. Knight's story is third, "Hell on Earth" by Auraleon (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). Cassandra is recruited by her old master to assist in battling demons which have infiltrated the Earth. Cassandra battles them and manages to come out on top as usual.

Fourth is the next entry in The Fox storyline, "Dynasty of Evil" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). This story takes place in 1910, years after the original storyline. A descendent of the heroine in the original story has the same shapeshifting abilities. She travels along with another woman, Sha-Ming, who is kept by the villanous Sheng Kuei. A boat crewmember watches the two of them as they head to a pond where bandits soon capture them.

The issue wraps up with "Victims" by Scott Hampton (story & art), in his professional debut. This is a very short story at only 3 pages long. Murders have been taking place by a 'Midnight Slasher'. A man returns to his home where he threatens a woman, making us think that he's the slasher. Only it ends up that she's the slasher, and kills him.

Eerie 60

Quite possibly Eerie's best issue ever. The cover is by Ken Kelly, featuring a woman embraced by a tentacled monster. Berni Wrightson contributes a cover on the back of the issue, featuring his interior story.

First is part one of a new series, 'Night of the Jackass', titled "24 Hours of Hell!" by Jose Ortiz (art, his Eerie debut) and Bruce Bezaire (story). A terrific, terrific serial, probably my favorite in Eerie after 'Apocalypse' which will soon appear as well. The story surrounds a drug which when taken causes a person to turn into a monster, but kills them after 24 hours. A group of poor old people head to a hotel, lock it up and take the drug, then go on a rampage, killing and raping everyone inside. A newlywed, Garson, witnesses his wife murdered by them, but is one of only two people to survive, the other being Bishop, a man who planned to kill himself but changed his mind when the jackassers when on their rampage. This series would take a few issues off before returning in issue 63.

Second is "Nightfall" by Berni Wrightson (art) and Bill Dubay (story). A young boy is deathly afraid of monsters who live in his room that come out whenever his parents leave him there alone. Each time they turn out the lights and leave the monsters come and try to take him away. His parents don't believe him but eventually decide to let him sleep with them after his bed is nearly taken out of the window.

"Exterminator One" is third, by Paul Neary (art) and Bill Dubay (story). Completely unrelated to the Exterminator story in issue 58, this story features a robot that used to be a man, who was jailed and given the opportunity to be let out if he becomes a robot assassin. In the future people are only allowed to have kids if they are genetically perfect and he committed the crime of having a kid anyway. It ends up that the planned victim of his is his own daughter. While he can't do it on his own, the computer overrides him and smuthers her to death with a pillow. After taking a few issues off, this storyline would continue in issue 63.

The finale of "Child" follows, titled "Childhood's End". Art is by Richard Corben and story is by Budd Lewis. As usual, this story is in color. For some reason the art on this segment looks rather mediocre compared to the first two segments. Child, alone once more, finds a shooting star which leaves a multi-colored spherical object behind. Child finds it and becomes convinced that this will make people love him. But when he hides it and heads off to find food, a boy arrives and steals it, only for it to explode, covering him with weird starfish like aliens. Child becomes upset upon realizing the boy stole his star and kidnaps the boy, planning to get revenge on him. A group of men chase him and fire upon him with shotguns. Child decides instead to forgive the boy and the aliens head onto him instead, killing him. Thus ends a pretty good series.

Another color story is next, "The Man Hunters" by Wally Wood (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). Apparantly this is one of many Wood stories rewritten based on editor Bill Dubay's request. The story features a woman on a spaceship with two other men, searching for her husband, who had dissappeared months earlier. They arrive on a planet with a tentacled monster, who quickly kill the two men. The monster leads her to a city where it puts a helmet on her which causes her to discover that her husband crashed on this planet and was saved by the monsters, who switched his brain to one of them! She decides to stay on the planet with her husband in his new form.

Another new series is next, "The Unholy Creation" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Steve Skeates (story). Another takeoff on the Frankenstein story, this features a man who is about to get married, but cheats on his fiance the night before the wedding. The next day he heads off to the wedding but on the way is beat up and brought to a doctor who transplants his brain into a monster. He takes revenge by killing the doctor and his assistant, but despairs at now being stuck in this form.

Last is "Interlude", part six of the Dr. Archeus series. Art is by Isidro Mones and story is by Gerry Boudreau. Jamaica contacts Sanford about finding where Archeus is, and they are able to break into his apartment and find his ordered list of victims. Archaeus meanwhile remembers that Jamaica is with Sanford, and plots to kill him. He hires a thug to capture Sanford and brings him to a church where he plans to drown him in holy water. Sanford escapes and knocks out the thug, but Archeus is able to kills him with a bow & arrow and hangs his corpse on a crucifix. Quite a shock to see the hero killed off; the series would continue with one final story in the next issue.

Creepy 117

Only a so-so issue at best. The cover, by Ken Kelly is a reprint of a design used years earlier for tshirts sold by Warren. This issue features a new Creepy logo which wouldn't last that long.

First is "Scream" by Leo Duranona (art) and Bob Toomey (story). A very long, drawn out story about a couple that awakens from suspended animation and finds everyone else gone and the world apparantly destroyed. They head out for a while and are confronted by some beast men who they are able to escape from. A rather long, drawn out and non-interesting story including a four and a half page stretch with no dialogue or captions whatsoever. Art by Duranona is okay.

Second is "A Noble Gesture" by Adolfo Abellan (art). The writer is uncredited. Abellan makes his first Warren appearance in a number of years and would vanish for good after this story. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where a man finds himself the only one left alive. His body is covered with boils that end up containing minuature people inside of them.

Third is the cover story, "The Beast" by Isidro Mones (art) and Michael Fleisher (story). A rich man is convinced that he is a werewolf who has been committing murders. His doctor tells him that's not so and ups his medication. In actuality the doctor is drugging him to convince him that he is the werewolf, so he can steal his wife and money. He screws up and is arrested, but it ends up that the rich guy is the werewolf after all.

Fourth is "Nightmare Highway" by Carmine Infantino & Steve Leialoha (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). The story is a mystery about a number of murders taking place on the highway of the title. It is thought that a young woman is committing the murders but it ends up instead being a man wearing women's shoes.

Last is "The Silkie" by Val Mayerik & Jeff Easley (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). A man catches a bizarre dolphin-like creature that ends up transforming into a beautiful woman. She remains as a woman out of water, but turns into the dolphin-like creature due to a trigger in her body that occurs when she is in the water. He has surgery done for her so she'll stay human forever, but they botch it and she must stay in the dolphin-like form forever. Years later her daughter shows up. An okay story, best of the issue considering its competition here.

Vampirella 18

An average issue of Vampi behind a terrific Enrich cover featuring Vampi and Dracula, one of his best covers he ever did for this magazine. The frontis for this issue is "Vampi's Feary Tales: Nymphs" by Luis Garcia (art) and Kevin Pagan (story).

First is Vampi's story, entitled "Dracula Still Lives!" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and T. Casey Brennan (story). Continuing from the Dracula appearance in Vampirella 16, Dracula is once again brought to life when another man sits inside his coffin. He summons the conjuress, a powerful woman he had originally summoned when he was on Drakulon. Vampi meanwhile heads after Dracula into a mirror world where she decides to spare his life. Conrad, believing she is going to turn his son into a vampire seeks to destroy the mirror, trapping her in there forever, but Vampi is able to make it out okay.

Next is a segment of Tomb of the Gods, "Kali" by Esteban Maroto (story & art). As usual, this Tomb of the Gods segment is rather incomprehensible. It surrounds a young woman, Kali, who is set to be a sacrifice by her tribe, but instead is given powers and returns to her tribe where she is attacked and killed for real.

After that is "Song of a Sad-Eyed Sorceress" by Luis Garcia (art) and Don McGregor (story). McGregor's story is somewhat better than usual, helped tremendously by Garcia's extremely good art, but still contains his usual political nonsense. It surrounds a young woman who summons a sorceress after being dumped by a man she was seeing. The sorceress takes over her body, changes form and takes out revenge on the man by transforming into a giant snake and killing him. Only the sorceress decides to retain her body and won't give it back after the deed is done.

Up next is "Won't Get Fooled Again" by Auraleon (art) and Doug Moench (story). A rather complicated story featuring a woman and lover cooking up a complicated scheme where her husband will believe that she got married by a ghost and kill a rich old man she was having an affair with who shares the name of the ghost, but isn't actually one. As it ends up, the husband does kill the old man and is arrested, but the ghost is real and kills the two lovers.

The issue wraps up with "The Dorian Gray Syndrome" by Felix Mas (art) and Don Glut (story). A newspaper reporter seeks information on a young man who appears to have the same powers as the Dorian Gray of the well known Oscar Wilde story where a painting of the man ages in his place. Only it is revealed here that the painting was actually redone by the man himself, and he appears eternally young because he is a vampire! By stabbing the painting however, our hero miraculously is able to save herself and kill him.

Eerie 58

A terrific, terrific issue of Eerie. The cover features the Spook and is by Sanjulian.

First story is "Enter: The Exterminator - They Eat Babies... Don't They?" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Bill Dubay (story). Taking place in a medeival setting, monsters in the woods have been capturing children. A mysterious man who can heal people appears and asks the king to let him help keep the kids safe by putting them in his care. The kingdom instead hires a mysterious knight known as the Exterminator. The Exterminator realizes that the healer is working with the monsters and attacks them, defeating both of them. He finds a spaceship they are from and kills the healer, who tries to tell him that they are actually there to save the children from the cruelties of the world. The Exterminator afterwards finds the children unharmed. He later speaks to someone from the future, revealing him to be a robot. This story would kick off a series of exterminator robot stories by Dubay, although this was the only appearance of this particular Exterminator robot.

Second is "Webtread's Powercut", featuring the Spook. The art is by Leopold Sanchez, in his Warren debut, and story is by Dough Moench. The Spook comes across a beaten old witch, Jessala, who tells him of the people who attacked her. Spook heads there and kills the men, chopping off their fingers and using it to bring her back to life.

Third is "The Pepper Lake Monster" by Berni Wrightson (story & art). A terrific story, perhaps Wrightson's best. A man whose job it is to seek out sea monsters finally finds a real one in the small town of Pepper Lake. When the town folk refuse to help him, he comes up with an elaborate contraption to capture it and succeeds. When he tells the town folk how famous he'll be for capturing it however, they kill him since removing the monster will remove any reason for someone to come to the town.

Fourth is "Mind of the Mass", part two of the Child series. Child is on the run after scaring a little girl while traveling through a new town. He meets a blind old woman whom he befriends. The town mob, thinking she's a witch burns her at the stake, but her house ends up collapsing on them. Child is left alone once again.

Fifth is another Spook story, "Knucklebones to Fever Twitch", by the same people as before. A group of slave traders end up starving all the slaves on their ship to death by not feeding them. Spook makes a deal with Jessala to bring them back to lie as zombies and they take revenge on them.

Last is another sement in Dr. Archaeus, "Carnage in Costume" by Isidro Mones (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This time Archaeus is coming after a juror holding a costume party. Sanford and Jamaica head there hoping to catch him but fail when rings around the host's neck (part of his costume) end up killing him. Jamaica meanwhile meets Archaeus in person when she goes to meet her sister in law, who just happens to be his neighbor.

Creepy 109

Very bizarre looking spaceships on the cover of this issue of Creepy, done by Jim Laurier.

Up first is "Vampire Dawn" by Pepe Moreno Casares (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). The story features a vampire found in an outpost in the Arctic. By biting some of the men, they are turned into vampires, and soon all but two of the men are vampires. While a helicopter comes to rescue them, knowing that they will just be attacked as well, the last remaining man blows everything up.

"The Organizer" is next, by Leo Duranona (art) and Bruce Jones (story). It features scientists turning prison inmates into bugs so they can use miniature cameras to find information on another criminal. All but two are killed, but they do successfully complete their mission only to find themselves abandoned as there is no way for the scientists to turn them back to normal. They get revenge by amassing a large swarm of bugs to attack them.

Third is "The Ravenscroft Affair" with art by Paul Neary and story by Bill Dubay. It features a man who opens up a hole to another dimension. There he sees a monster that he becomes obsessed with encountering again. He spends a long time building a machine to open up the hole to the other dimension again and builds a sculpture of the creature to provide as a gift. Not having a gift however, the monster tears his head off and tries to use that! This art looks absolutely nothing like Neary's usual stuff.

Next is "Alien Affair" by Val Mayerik (art) and Cary Bates (story). It features an alien organism that starts growing around a ship and eventually transforms the three astronauts within the ship to turn into alien like creatures as well. Two are killed while the last one is captured.

Last is "Heart of Darkness" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Bill Mantlo (story). It features a man in possession of some animals that he crashes on a planet with. Aliens that look like chimps come after him. He eventually is killed by them. Not that good a story and Bermejo's artwork is absolutely dreadful, its hard to even tell that its him.